May 13, 2006: Vol. 29, No. 19

A petty snub by the borough president or a show of respect for his mother — you decide.

The Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats honored a handful of neighborhood groups and community leaders at its annual dinner this Sunday — including Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a group that is fighting Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project.
As is custom at such dinners, which double as fundraisers, Borough President Markowitz took out an ad in the evening’s program. The ad congratulated all the honorees by name — except DDDB, which has attacked Markowitz for his support for Atlantic Yards.

Of course, it was no oversight.

“I am a proud CBID member ... but on rare occasions, I may not agree that one of their honorees is worthy,” he told The Brooklyn Papers in a statement. “Besides, my mother always taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein fired back: “DDDB has a powerful base of support and has done the work of informing the community about Ratner’s plan — which Borough Hall has failed to do … We have over 400 volunteers, well over 2,000 individual donors and a newly announced advisory board of prominent, influential Brooklynites. Snubbing us snubs not only CBID, but thousands of Brooklynites. It is unfortunate that this is how our borough president behaves.”

Other honorees at the 37th annual dinner, at Park Slope’s Montauk Club, were Jeremy Creelan of the Brennan Center for Justice, District Leader Alan Fleishman, Councilwoman Darlene Mealy (D-Brownsville), activist Warren Miner, Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, South Park Slope Community Group, and Park Slope Neighbors.

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